Comments on: Cash, SEO and Ethics

By: VMOptions

VMOptions — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:48:27 +0000

Ethics varies more widely then the techniques we use to achieve results. Regardless, this post is a reminder that we are all part of the bigger picture and can influence the direction of our industry.

By: Singapore SEO

Singapore SEO — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 06:09:29 +0000

Very interesting. You got me thinking for a while on the different aspects of “ethics” in our industry. Well for technical issue where optimization is involved, i personally feel it is ok as long as one never “overdo” it. For business wise, it is a business ethnic that we practised : We never perform SEO for business which is somehow closely related to that of our clients. What about yours?

By: Del Mar Picks

Del Mar Picks — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:23:51 +0000

Great post! I always found the Ethics side of SEO interesting and I am going to go browse the other Ethics posts from back in June.

By: Joey Martini

Joey Martini — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:48:25 +0000

This is what I think:

Blackhat SEO guys who spams blog with just there links and silly comment are the ones who cross the line. This also includes Gallery link spamming, and the sad thing is that people with galleries give up on deleting spam..

The problem is google is not doing anything to attacking these blackhats, I know many sites that are ranking with just link spamming. Very Sad.

Anyway great post, it reminds us who

By: Property Finder

Property Finder — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:23:47 +0000

The line between ethics and business is very thin. It will boil down to circumstance.

By: Petitehye

Petitehye — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:48:25 +0000

Thanks for the list… I am so interested about SEO to generate traffic for my blog and your list is very useful.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:29:07 +0000

This is a very useful and though provoking post. We all tend to have very unique and diverse values and ethical principles depending on what part of the world and family we were brought up in.

But there are also those universal ethical values that we hold as humans or as businesses.

Reading through this post and the comments left, it all boils down to critically analyzing ourselves and defining who we really are as individuals or as a company!

By: Eva White

Eva White — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 06:07:49 +0000

While what you say makes a lot of sense, its impossible to be squeaky clean in business today. Willingly or not all of us have done at least one of the so called unethical things on your list. Maybe if your conscience doesn’t prick you its ethical enough for you.

By: Yura

Yura — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:43:24 +0000

Well said, Ruud.

Lately, I’ve been tempted to try those grey methods, where paying essentially gets you medium quality links, but have always chosen to do it the hard way.

Some may justify their actions by using the right tool for the right job, though.

By: Wii Boy

Wii Boy — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:43:11 +0000

An old boss of mine used to say “If there’s a fee in it, then it’s ethical”.

I prefer the quote:

If you don’t have integrity, you have nothing. You can’t buy it. You can have all the money in the world, but if you are not a moral and ethical person, you really have nothing.